Proxy's Memories: Supplimentary Side Stories and More

[ThreadLurkingComorant]

The Interview: Styx and Gallows
CW: Mentions of Blood and Violence
Project: Masa con Papas/Mulligan

 The rabbit’s been looking at you for quite awhile, hasn’t said much of a word since he arrived.

Every once in a while you swish your tail as you pretend not to notice, his ears twitch everytime.

Cute admittedly…

You scooped him up off an alleyway, a tiny radio held firm in the palm of his hands as he laid bleeding out.

Absolutely a troublemaker, probably not one to get invested in at all. A comedian like himself doesn’t tend to really last long from experience but..

He certainly has something about the air around him that catches your eye.

Styx: You may speak.

Gallows: Just lost in thought, processing things. Maybe enjoying the view.

Styx: You’re facing in my direction.

Gallows: Can’t deny a pretty face.

Styx: Suppose I can’t either but it’s not really mine.. simply a form I am comfortable with.

Gallows: Is it not usually the other way around? To protect my mind form unprecedented horrors?

Styx: No.. more of a reminder really. Something to keep myself grounded in this occupation.

Styx: I believe such transparency is merited.

Gallows: You have your reasons, I more than understand.

Styx: And I’m sure you have yours as well...

You lean your nose closer to him.

Styx: May I?

Gallows: You may.

You take a whiff.

Styx: You reek of some rather dangerous witchcraft. Rather recent too but..

You offer him a hand, he takes it. You give it a good look.

Styx: You're rather green at this.

Gallows: Hit the nail on the head.

Styx: Your attire suggests you've stepped fresh out of mass as well, you've spend time in the presence of something divine.

Gallows: You’ve certainly got an eye for things. I'm a tad impressed.

Styx: I have to, allows me to gauge a situation somewhat better...

Styx: Especially since people of your nature don’t summon me so easily.

Gallows: No, suppose not.

Gallows: Figure that I’m already headed down the path of damnation. May as well commit to the bit, right?

You can’t help but give him a smirk.

Styx: Suppose that’s one way to look at it.

Gallows: What do you mean? Is that not the fate that awaits?

Gallows: You cast the ritual on one of those little radios and the devil appears in one of his many guise? He offers you a deal at the cost of your mortal soul?

Styx: Curious. If you’re already damned, what makes you think I’d want what I already own?

Gallows: Well.. for starters you’ve brought me here…

Gallows: And you seem to have mended my wounds in the process.

Styx: People are more than just their mind, body, and soul you know. Their value extends to their actions, their potential, the people around them... but that's its own discussion. Besides...

Styx: I’m not one to let a potential client die, and looking at the state you were in..

You give him a wide grin, one that he returns with a confident smile that shows just enough teeth.

Styx: You certainly are desperate enough to take the first offer that sounds good enough.

Gallows: Little too ambitious for that.

Styx: We’ll see…

Styx: Where do you think you are right now? Consider this the interview.

Gallows: Purgatory of some kind? Might’ve bleed out on the streets to be honest.

Gallows: Serves me right for picking fights like that I suppose.

Gallows: Don’t see god’s gate for miles so..

Gallows: I’m certainly not on his good side.

Styx: You speak as a man of faith.

Gallows: More an expression of dread I think, least.

Styx: May I ask what exactly set you down this “path of damnation” then?

Styx: A little background would do wonders.

Gallows: Thought you were the tracker of my sins, no?

Gallows: I don’t see how it’d change much-

Styx: I don’t care about what you did, I care about why.

Gallows: To put it bluntly then, I came from a rather neglected part of the region. My neighbors, my family.. We’re not by any definition financially secure.

Gallows: Have to skip a lot of meals, DIY pretty much everything really.

Styx: And yet the dress you wear..

Gallows: Stolen. We’re all expected to pony up though. Have to look presentable in the eyes of the fathers above and such.

Gallows: It’s ruined now though.

Styx: Personally, I think a little red looks good on you.

Gallows: I imagine you have a bias towards that…

Styx: Maybe.

Gallows: Have to say the same though… I’m not overstepping any boundaries?

Styx: Flattery will get you far here, I encourage it.

Styx: Continue however..

Gallows: Every few years one of these fathers comes down from above looking for a successor.

Gallows: Anyone is allowed to audition through the trials but…

Gallows: Historically there’s a bias toward families who’ve already got good ties.

Styx: And are you one of these?

Gallows: Not at all… had to take measures into my own hands.

Gallows: I’d been researching magic to a rather extensive degree and well..

Gallows: It wasn’t too hard to find a spell to graft the appearance of one onto yourself.

Styx: You wear the flesh of an innocent then?

Gallows: Hardly…

Gallows: I’ve worked for this family plenty in the past, pay is low and lethality is high.

Gallows: I simply decided I deserved my employer’s life a little more than them.

Gallows: Money in my pocket and my foot in the door to godhood, what more could you ask for really?
 
Styx: Mm..

Gallows: Doesn’t feel fair that I have to go so far in the first place…
 
Gallows: But… one more rabbit in hell is a small cost if it makes the lives of many better. At least I’d like to believe so…
Gallows: Fact that you’re here confirms as much, no? They say he only shows up if he sees something of value after all.

Styx: Mm… I hate to break the narrative you’ve built but..

Styx: I’m not nearly so grand.

Gallows:... What do you mean?

Styx: I’m not the devil himself, nor anything with that level of cosmic sway.

Styx: But I can offer you plenty, should you be willing to negotiate terms.

Gallows:... Ah.. well you did save my life.

Styx: Couldn’t let someone like you die so easy, I could tell you’ve got plenty more in you.

Styx: I do find it mildly endearing that you were willing to flirt with the embodiment of man’s downfall though.

Gallows: My stance does not change.

Styx: You’re adorable, I’ll allow it.

You rub your tail against his shoulder teasingly, fishing for a reaction that he refuses to give..

Though his eyes seem to betray him, dilating more than clearly..

Gallows: So then, what are you if not that?

Styx: Styx, King of Defiance. Hopefully that’s grand enough for you.

Gallows: And your kingdom?

Styx: We’re standing right in it. The ruins of a time long gone.

Styx: So..

Styx: I’ll give you this for now. You have my number. Call on me whenever you need a favor and we’ll negotiate something. This first time? Consider it a free sample, a taste of power if you would.

Gallows: Confident I’ll be back for more then?

Styx: If you managed to find yourself in this position to begin with…

Styx: You’re certainly not unlikely to end up here again.

Gallows: Not a face I mind waking up to so..

Gallows: Perhaps I I’ll speed up the process? Play a bit bolder, take more risks.

Styx: I’d caution against that.

Gallows: And why’s that?

Styx: One, because I don’t like the idea of someone hurting themselves for my attention.. I’m more than willing to let you in for a glass of wine and perhaps a bit more…

He gives you a smug look, one that causes you to break eye contact in a sheepish manner.

Gallows: And two?

Styx: If you outright die in the process, I can’t really do much.

Gallows: Didn’t you revive me just now?

Styx: Mostly dead isn’t dead. There’s different states of  living but the concept of being alive or dead is fairly binary when it comes to how my contracts work.

Styx: It’s easier to put the blood back in someone and seal a few injuries than reanimating a pile of ash.

Gallows: Noted..

Styx: When I send you back, you’ll return to exactly where you were…

Styx: I do hope you were in a safe position at the time.

Gallows: Don’t think I was actually…

Gallows: You couldn’t do something about that, could you?

Styx: Are you willing to negotiate?

Gallows: Only if you’re willing to tell me a bit more.

Styx: I can certainly do my best. Let’s give you a tour of the office in that case…